TLC♕

LEFT EYE, LISA LOPES

Things did not work out with Crystal Jones,

and TLC's manager Perri "Pebbles" Reid

brought in Damian Dame backup dancer

Rozonda Thomas as a third member of the

group.

To keep the "initial" theme of the

band's name, Rozonda needed a name

starting with C, and so became Chilli—a name

chosen by Lopes. Band mate Tionne Watkins

became T-Boz which was derived from the

first letter of her first name and "Boz," which

is slang for "boss". Lopes was renamed "Left

Eye", after a compliment from a man who

once told her he was very attracted to her

because of her left eye. Lopes emphasized

her nickname by wearing a pair of glasses

with the left lens covered with a condom, in

keeping with the group's promotion of safe

sex, wearing a black stripe under her left eye

and, eventually getting her left eyebrow

pierced.

The group arrived on the music scene in 1992

with the album Ooooooohhh... On the TLC

Tip.

With four singles, it sold six million

copies worldwide; TLC became a household

name. 1994 saw the release of

CrazySexyCool, which sold over 23 million

copies worldwide and cemented TLC as one

of the biggest female groups of all time.

TLC's third album, FanMail, was released in

1999 and sold over 14 million copies

worldwide.

Its title was a tribute to TLC's

loyal fans and the sleeve contained the

names of hundreds of them as a "thank you"

to supporters

During the recording of FanMail, a public

conflict began amongst the members of the

group. In the May 1999 issue of Vibe

magazine, Lopes said, "I've graduated from

this era. I cannot stand 100 percent behind

this TLC project and the music that is

supposed to represent me."

In response

to Lopes' comments, Watkins and Thomas

stated to Entertainment Weekly that Lopes

"doesn't respect the whole group" and "Left

Eye is only concerned with Left Eye". In turn,

Lopes sent a reply through Entertainment